This chapter looks at the evolving enterprise system from the 1950s to the 1980s. It argues that the inter‐organizational model of focal factories, unitary firms, and interfirm networks remained the ...
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This chapter looks at the evolving enterprise system from the 1950s to the 1980s. It argues that the inter‐organizational model of focal factories, unitary firms, and interfirm networks remained the dominant industrial organization model in spite of significant changes in industrial relations, ownership, government policies, and sources of technology. The different sections of the chapter look at large modern corporations from 1954 to 1987, social transformation and shop‐floor reformation, the adaptive as opposed to the innovative enterprise, structural change, and the post‐war strategy of Matsushita and Hitachi, organizational interdependence (enterprise groups) in post‐war Japan (the six main types of interfirm groupings, and new enterprise groups), the utility of interfirm networks, and the modern corporation and enterprise system.Less

Advancing the Enterprise System

W. Mark Fruin

Published in print: 1994-06-16

This chapter looks at the evolving enterprise system from the 1950s to the 1980s. It argues that the inter‐organizational model of focal factories, unitary firms, and interfirm networks remained the dominant industrial organization model in spite of significant changes in industrial relations, ownership, government policies, and sources of technology. The different sections of the chapter look at large modern corporations from 1954 to 1987, social transformation and shop‐floor reformation, the adaptive as opposed to the innovative enterprise, structural change, and the post‐war strategy of Matsushita and Hitachi, organizational interdependence (enterprise groups) in post‐war Japan (the six main types of interfirm groupings, and new enterprise groups), the utility of interfirm networks, and the modern corporation and enterprise system.

Insolvency within multinational enterprise groups (MEGs) raises complex issues due to the foreign elements of the case and the multiplicity of debtors. The key problem is deciding to what extent and ...
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Insolvency within multinational enterprise groups (MEGs) raises complex issues due to the foreign elements of the case and the multiplicity of debtors. The key problem is deciding to what extent and in which ways should there be ‘linkage’ between the entities in the course of their insolvency in order to promote insolvency goals. Historically the issue has been neglected both in national and international regimes. However, new initiatives are currently developing. In order to deal with this issue this book provides a theoretical framework, suggesting a balance between Entity-Enterprise issues (drawn from company law theory and the problem of enterprise groups) and Universality-Territoriality issues (drawn from cross-border insolvency and conflict of laws theory). This is further assisted by a taxonomy describing prototypical scenarios of MEGs and their insolvency. The theoretical framework and prototypical scenarios are the basis for critical analyses of various tools for ‘linking’ between different components of MEGs in the course of their insolvency and the degree to which they fit with a series of insolvency goals. Thus, the book suggests a comprehensive approach for dealing with insolvency within MEGs which can be used not only within the current cross-border insolvency frameworks (e.g., UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings) but also as a definitive guideline for future reform. It argues that a global group-wide perspective for MEG insolvencies can be desirable if its application is limited to appropriate types of cases where unduly defeat of entity law and territoriality concerns can be minimized.Less

Insolvency within Multinational Enterprise Groups

Irit Mevorach

Published in print: 2009-05-21

Insolvency within multinational enterprise groups (MEGs) raises complex issues due to the foreign elements of the case and the multiplicity of debtors. The key problem is deciding to what extent and in which ways should there be ‘linkage’ between the entities in the course of their insolvency in order to promote insolvency goals. Historically the issue has been neglected both in national and international regimes. However, new initiatives are currently developing. In order to deal with this issue this book provides a theoretical framework, suggesting a balance between Entity-Enterprise issues (drawn from company law theory and the problem of enterprise groups) and Universality-Territoriality issues (drawn from cross-border insolvency and conflict of laws theory). This is further assisted by a taxonomy describing prototypical scenarios of MEGs and their insolvency. The theoretical framework and prototypical scenarios are the basis for critical analyses of various tools for ‘linking’ between different components of MEGs in the course of their insolvency and the degree to which they fit with a series of insolvency goals. Thus, the book suggests a comprehensive approach for dealing with insolvency within MEGs which can be used not only within the current cross-border insolvency frameworks (e.g., UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings) but also as a definitive guideline for future reform. It argues that a global group-wide perspective for MEG insolvencies can be desirable if its application is limited to appropriate types of cases where unduly defeat of entity law and territoriality concerns can be minimized.

Business practices in Japan inspire fierce and even acrimonious debate, especially when they are compared to American ones. This book attempts to explain the remarkable economic success of Japan in ...
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Business practices in Japan inspire fierce and even acrimonious debate, especially when they are compared to American ones. This book attempts to explain the remarkable economic success of Japan in the postwar period—a success it is crucial for us to understand in a time marked by controversial trade imbalances and concerns over competitive industrial performance. It focuses on what it calls the intercorporate alliance, the innovative and increasingly pervasive practice of bringing together a cluster of affiliated companies that extends across a broad range of markets. The best known of these alliances are the keiretsu, or enterprise groups, which include both diversified families of firms located around major banks and trading companies, and vertical families of suppliers and distributors linked to prominent manufacturers in the automobile, electronics, and other industries. In providing a key link between isolated local firms and extended international markets, the intercorporate alliance has had profound effects on the industrial and social organization of Japanese businesses. The book casts its net widely. It not only provides a rigorous analysis of intercorporate capitalism in Japan, making useful distinctions between Japanese and American practices, but also develops a broad theoretical context for understanding Japan's business networks. Addressing economists, sociologists, and other social scientists, the book argues that the intercorporate alliance is as much a result of overlapping political, economic, and social forces as are such traditional Western economic institutions as the public corporation and the stock market.Less

Alliance Capitalism : The Social Organization of Japanese Business

Michael Gerlach

Published in print: 1997-08-04

Business practices in Japan inspire fierce and even acrimonious debate, especially when they are compared to American ones. This book attempts to explain the remarkable economic success of Japan in the postwar period—a success it is crucial for us to understand in a time marked by controversial trade imbalances and concerns over competitive industrial performance. It focuses on what it calls the intercorporate alliance, the innovative and increasingly pervasive practice of bringing together a cluster of affiliated companies that extends across a broad range of markets. The best known of these alliances are the keiretsu, or enterprise groups, which include both diversified families of firms located around major banks and trading companies, and vertical families of suppliers and distributors linked to prominent manufacturers in the automobile, electronics, and other industries. In providing a key link between isolated local firms and extended international markets, the intercorporate alliance has had profound effects on the industrial and social organization of Japanese businesses. The book casts its net widely. It not only provides a rigorous analysis of intercorporate capitalism in Japan, making useful distinctions between Japanese and American practices, but also develops a broad theoretical context for understanding Japan's business networks. Addressing economists, sociologists, and other social scientists, the book argues that the intercorporate alliance is as much a result of overlapping political, economic, and social forces as are such traditional Western economic institutions as the public corporation and the stock market.

This chapter discusses enterprise groups of Japanese industrial organization. It outlines the general patterns of relationships common to business networks in market economies and investigates how ...
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This chapter discusses enterprise groups of Japanese industrial organization. It outlines the general patterns of relationships common to business networks in market economies and investigates how these are reflected in specific alliance patterns. The analyses reveal show that ownership structures of Japanese corporations are far more likely than in the U.S.A. to be organized as table relationships which endure over decades, to be reciprocated among mutually positioned companies.Less

The Organization of Japanese Business Networks

Michael L. Gerlach

Published in print: 1997-08-04

This chapter discusses enterprise groups of Japanese industrial organization. It outlines the general patterns of relationships common to business networks in market economies and investigates how these are reflected in specific alliance patterns. The analyses reveal show that ownership structures of Japanese corporations are far more likely than in the U.S.A. to be organized as table relationships which endure over decades, to be reciprocated among mutually positioned companies.